Post-Lottery Podcast

Mallory, John, and I (and possibly Ryan, who is travelling and may or may not pop in) are recording a podcast tonight (Thursday night) about where the Cavs stand now that we know they’re picking in the four slot. Post some draft-related questions in the comments, and we’ll select a handful of them for the pod.

Something I mentioned in another thread, but what would you be willing to trade to move into the #2 or #3 spot? For example, would you take on a Rashard Lewis or Andray Blatche type salary or give up a package of draft picks? Maybe you would be willing to part with Luke Harangody, Semih Erden, or a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts.

Chad Ford is pretty high on Drummond (although he didn’t think KI had all-star potential last year). Best case we take AD and he turns into Howard MK2. Worse case we go back to the lottery for another year.

Sub-questions to this questions include: Have you ever actually watched him play basketball? Do you realize Calhoun never runs his UConn offense through a freshman big man, that it is entirely run through its guards? Did you watch a single UConn game this year? Did you notice the ball dominating guards would go multiple possessions without getting Drummond the ball? Do you realize the man is near 7 feet tall and lost 22 lbs since the season ended and still weighs 270lbs? How do you lose 22 lbs without a motor? Do you realize this same 6’11 man can put a basketball between his legs in the air and dunk it? Do you realize that this draft is far more wing heavy than center heavy? Do you also realize that so is the following draft, and there is the possibility of the NBA pushing back the age limit so immediate upcoming drafts may be much weaker? Do you know that the only other chance at a legitimate scoring big is attracting a free agent…to Cleveland? Do you realize Anderson Varejao is turning 30? Do you realize Andre Drummond is 18?

If Andre Drummond has a 33.3% chance at being Dwight Howard or better, a 33.3% chance at being DeAndre Jordan, and a 33.3% chance at being Kwame Brown – do you take that chance?

Go back to the super stacked 2003 draft where everyone thought their was a huge dropoff in talent after Chris Bosh at 4 (that includes Darko in that draft)….Most mocks had D-Wade going to Chicago at 7 and Kurt Hinrich going to Miami at 5. Sometimes players slip through–we just need to find that guy. Also—some people really love Thomas Robinson. Why wouldn’t try and pair J-Wall with a big man like Drummond or Robinson. I think we’ve all fallen into a tunnel vision where we look at the Cavs needs and assume that they are everyone else’s. That view would of course make it seem like the top three prospects would be Davis, MGK, and Beal. Out of all those three I could easily see Beal being the best NBA player, MGK is the safest bet, and Davis has outer-wordly potential. MGK has a high floor–but realistically is he a franchise player? Is he someone that can win games on his own? Could he potentially be the MVP? The NBA drafts on potential and I could see MGK falling to us because a team’s GM might ask themselves those questions.

EDIT: I looked over Washington’s roster and it’s pretty clear that they would/should love to take Beal. A SG to go with Wallis a big need. They take a big man only if they don’t believe in their top pick from last year. The Bobcats then are the real wildcard. Some good luck though—MJ doesn’t buy into mock draft hype and will certainly be looking for finding the guy he thinks can turn that franchise around. This is the guy who took Kwame and the guy who famously got passed over on draft day. Don’t think for one second that he is going to think Harrison Barnes or Percy Jones shouldn’t be taken at #2.

Those lists are great. A quick eye scan suggests that the no.5 picks are historically better than the no.2s.

I think everyone is just caught up in pre-draft hype and needs to wait and see how it shakes out. I personally think Beal will be at 4 anyway, but Barnes seems like a solid pick to me and Drummond has mega potential. It depends if we want to take that risk. If he panned out him and Irving could be devastating.

I’m still kind of optimistic that the Wizards will take Robinson, leaving Beal to the Cavs. My question is, if Beal is just 6’3″, will he and Kyrie be too small of a backcourt and get run over defensively, ala Curry/Ellis?

PJ3 and Drummond had disappointing years leading to a fall in there draft stock. But there are circumstances in both these cases that make me think they could be the steals in the draft. PJ3 played for the dumbest coach in the NCAA’s. PJ3 is a forward a blind man could see that, and he was forced for the last 2 years to play center since he was the tallest guy on the team. This killed him since he was playing with his back to the basket against centers. Do you think that this could actually help him because when he comes to the NBA he will be posting up 3’s instead of 5’s and unlike LBJ will already be comfortable doing so?
Drummond on the other hand had his Head coach out for most the season and played with 2 of the most selfish pg’s Ive ever seen. Did he disappear because he never got the ball and his coach wasn’t there or wasn’t because he’s soft?
The other question I have is do you think that we as Cleveland fans fell in love with Beal when we thought we were drafting 7 or 8 and have thus inflated his value? I just have a hard time drafting a 6’3 2. I have fits remembering the last time we had a pair of 6’3 guards getting torched by the Magic at 50% from 3 for a whole series. And Lewis hitting 3 game winners 1 over west, one over wallace and i forget the other. Do you think this is a big problem?

this is a serious question although it may come out as rather “trollish”. I read this blog and it’s awesome. But it needs to be said…

How many of you guys actually watch multiple college basketball games, particuarly ones with the NBA prospects playing? (I don’t watch any, I rely on internet articles!)

Or, if you guys don’t watch a lot, are we susceptible to a bit of “groupthink” when it comes to rating prospects? I’ve never seen ANYWHERE stating that there’s a significant drop off from the top three, yet it’s slated here from the blog writers as complete fact with the vast majority of commentors agreeing with this.

In fact, sites dedicated soley to rating nba propsects (nbadraft.net, draftexpress, mynbadrft) as well as popular sports media outlets (cnnsi, sports yahoo, foxsports), ALL DO NOT have MKG and Beal going #2 and #3 in their mock drafts. Some have MKG in the top three, some have beal in the top 3, but NONE have BOTH of them going in the top 3.

The Lineup: (Click for Author’s Archive)

Nate Smith is an Associate Editor. He grew up in Anchorage, Alaska, and moved to NE Ohio in 2000. He adopted the Cavs in 2003 and graduated from Kent State in 2009 with a BA in English. He can be contacted at oldseaminer@gmail.com or @oldseaminer on Twitter.

Tom Pestak is an Associate Editor. He's from the west side of Cleveland and lives and (mostly) dies by the success and (mostly) failures of his beloved teams. You can watch his fanaticism during Cavs games @tompestak.

Robert Attenweiler is a Staff Writer. Originally from OH, he's long made his home in NYC where he writes plays and screenplays (www.disgracedproductions.com) some of which end up being about Ohio, basketball or both. He has also written for The Classical and the blog Raising the Cadavalier. You can contact him at rattenweiler@gmail.com or @cadavalier.

Benjamin Werth is a Staff Writer. He was born in Cleveland and raised in Mentor, OH. He now lives in Germany where he is an opera singer and actor. He can be reached at blfwerth@gmail.com.

Cory Hughey is a Staff Writer. He grew up in Youngstown, the Gary, Indiana of Ohio. He graduated from Youngstown State in 2008 with a worthless telecommunications degree. He can be contacted at theleperfromwatts@yahoo.com or @coryhughey on Twitter.

David Wood is our Links Editor. He is a 2012 Graduate of Syracuse University with an English degree who loves bikes, beer, basketball, writing, and Rimbaud. He can be reached on Twitter: @nothingwood.

Mallory Factor is the voice of Cavs: The Podcast. By day Mallory works in fundraising and by night he runs a music business company. To see his music endeavors check out www.fivetracks.com. Hit him up at Malloryfactorii@gmail.com or @Malfii.

John Krolik is the Editor Emeritus of Cavs: The Blog. At present, he is pursuing a law degree at Tulane University. You can contact him at johnkrolik@gmail.com or @johnkrolik.

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